The heads of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) have held a meeting in preparation for the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December. IMO’s Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, Yvo de Boer of the UNFCCC, and ICAO’s Kobeh González met in London, UK, on 30 April 2009. The three leaders discussed potential hurdles to be crossed in the process leading up to COP15. Mitropoulos recommended that parties to the UNFCCC continue to entrust IMO with the development and enactment of a global regulatory regime to reduce or limit greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping. Kobeh emphasized that a globally-harmonized framework is essential for tackling emissions from international aviation due to their global nature. He added that a Group on International Aviation and Climate Change was created and mandated by the ICAO Assembly in 2007 to pursue this global framework through an ICAO Programme of Action on International Aviation and Climate Change. He also indicated that the ICAO Council has scheduled a High-level Meeting on International Aviation and Climate Change in October 2009 to review the Programme of Action and the recommendations to parties in Copenhagen. De Boer underlined the potential contribution of the two sectors in achieving the long-term objectives of the UNFCCC and stressed the need for the Copenhagen agreement to constitute a solid foundation for the work of the IMO and the ICAO to address emissions from bunker fuels.
Link to further information
IMO press release, 8 May 2009